I Don't Know, But I Am Told

Wingnut hacks are getting old.

Anne Applebaum is a pure merit hire; all the rest of you are quota queens. Or so she thinks. You see, she was hired to write a column based on her glorious reporting career, but, "thanks to [Susan] Estrich," all other female writers "will have to wonder whether it was [your] knowledge of Irish politics, [your] willingness to court controversy or just [you] gender that won the editor over."

And Anne demonstrates her mad reporting skillz, too.

"I am told, for example, that there is pressure at Harvard Law School, and at other law schools, to ensure that at least half the students chosen for the law review are women. Quite frankly, it's hard to think of anything that would do more damage to aspiring female lawyers. Neither they nor their prospective employers will ever know whether they got there as part of a quota or on their own merits."

I am told that the federal government is controlled by the Jews; it must be so. That's the kind of in-depth investigative journalism that would earn Ann a job at FrontPage Magazine.

Does Apple Annie believe half the students chosen for law review wouldn't be women if applicants were judged solely on their merits? And does she believe that the prospective employers of law school graduates no longer look at grades or writing samples or references or experience to make their hiring decisions? Why, oh why, are all these inferior women trying to make Anne look bad?

After this column, we'll all have to wonder whether Applebaum got her column due to her love of right-wing cliches, her wilingness to spout conventional wisdom, or because Margaret Carlson declined Kinsley's offer.